INGLEWOOD vs. AMERICA….Guess what I got with my corn flakes this morning? An LA Times op-ed by Jay Nordlinger scolding the people of Inglewood for turning down the chance to have a Wal-Mart plopped down in the middle of their city. Here’s the highlight:
Wal-Mart is gloriously, unashamedly, star-spangledly American. I hope it’s not too McCarthyite to suggest that those who despise Wal-Mart are the very ones who may not be so crazy about the United States tout court.
Don’t you just love conservatives? Singing the praises of Wal-Mart is apparently a bit of stretch even for Nordlinger ? it’s nonunionized! its investors have made tidy sums! ? so instead he resorts to the conservatives’ favorite trope: anyone who hates Wal-Mart hates America.
It’s a good sign of a bankrupt argument and a bankrupt movement when even a disagreement over payscales in a retail store descends into rote accusations of anti-Americanism. Unfortunately, this has become so commonplace that it’s no longer fair to call this kind of demagoguery McCarthyism. That’s unfair to McCarthyites.
Welcome to the modern face of American conservatism.
